Maybe the reluctance to import has to do with some people being region-locked and worrying if a disc is not region free. Not sure, because importing is easy and, particularly from the UK and Germany, pretty cheap. Some of my favorite discs I've imported would probably be "Cross of Iron", "Charley Varrick", "Blue Collar", "The Day of the Jackal", "The Silent Partner", "The Naked City", "Smoke", "Match Point", "Peeping Tom", "Saturday Night and Sunday Morning", "Le Trou", the Melville box set, "Extreme Prejudice", "The Long Good Friday", "Hands Over the City", "Il Bidone", and "Kind Hearts and Coronets". Importing is a great solution to finding some titles that may never be put out in the States, and likewise for people importing discs from the US that aren't available abroad.

I'm not region-free, so the only imports I own are region A discs. Some of them I ordered from Amazon (US), so I didn't really import them, someone else did Some of them I ordered from Amazon UK, and I got Cross of Iron from Amazon Japan. It's pretty easy to get these types of discs when available, but these days I prefer to wait for the US release. Lord knows there are more than enough domestic releases to spend my money on.

The unbelievably awkwardly titled Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend was one of Disney's problematic attempts to update their family fare for an audience that increasingly avoided films with the Walt Disney logo (it was released by Disney’s ‘adult’ label Touchstone with a much more deserved PG rating). On one level it’s an apparently family-friendly Gorgo-esque tale of Sean Young and William Katt discovering a would-be cute baby dinosaur in the African jungle and trying to protect it from Patrick McGoohan’s ruthless palaeontologist, but it’s also set in a much more realistic Africa than you’d have seen had Uncle Walt been calling the shots, rife with civil war, dictatorships, corruption and violence. Think E.T. with AK47s. When Baby’s pop gets machine-gunned to death by government troops and carrion picks at the carcass, it’s certainly a reminder that executive producer Roger Spottiswoode cut his teeth as one of Sam Peckinpah’s editors on Straw Dogs and The Getaway (Spottiswoode’s vision for the film may have been even darker – he was originally pegged to direct as well before ‘creative differences’ led to him being replaced before shooting).

Unfortunately, undercutting the realism is Baby itself. While the Mokele Mobembe, Africa’s own land-based Loch Ness Monster, may be a dinosaur, it’s not one of the really cool ones like a meat-eating Tyrannosaurus Rex, Allosaurus or Velociraptor but a Brontosaurus (the name’s back in fashion now it’s been decided that the Apatosaurus is a different species), famed for lumbering along while chomping on the local flora and fauna. To make matters worse, since this is pre-CGi, and with stop-motion too complicated for the difficult Ivory Coast jungle locations and Jurassic Park technology still a long way off, that means animatronics and men in rubber suits. While the grown-up critters just about pass muster, junior is a particularly unconvincing bit of rubber and latex with big eyes and limited expression…

As a result the film is particularly schizophrenic as it hovers between the realistic and the ridiculous: it’s too violent for the grownups and the beastie’s too childish for the teens, though enough of it does work that it still manages to score some points as it veers between sporadically guilty pleasure and decently crafted adventure that it’s curiously hard to dislike. Jerry Goldsmith’s score is an interesting bridge between his work on Legend and his subsequent score for Rambo: First Blood Part II, with some good action cues and a fine, albeit brief, fanfare for the dinosaurs. And you do get to see the writer of Gosford Park and Downton Abbey chased by an angry momma dinosaur…

Kino’s Region A-locked Bluray offers a modest upgrade in picture quality from Mill Creek’s deleted region-free release – it appears to be the same master with a slightly better encode, with the same somewhat tinny sound on the end credits (though unlike Mill Creek’s release, which cut off the final crescendo a bit abruptly, this time the final fanfare in the end credits is intact). Unlike Mill Creek’s disc, it includes the original trailer and new interviews with director Bill Norton and William Katt, with the emphasis on the rigors of the location shoot (Katt revealing that Norton had to direct parts of the film from a stretcher after finding “worms in his pooh”).

Occupying equally undeserved slots in the original Fifty Worst Movies of All Time and Complex Magazine’s 50 Best Blaxploitation Films of All Time, Trouble Man has all the ingredients for a decent genre outing but fall flat for far too much of its running time. The plot and setup are certainly promising enough. Robert Hooks’ stone cold fixer rights wrongs and does favours from his throne in a pool room until he’s approached by Paul Winfield and Ralph Waite’s hustlers who want him to find out who’s ripping off their floating crap games – which quickly turns into a murder that leads to a gang war with the local Mr Big, with Mr T in the crosshairs of both the cops and Julius Harris’ Big (he doesn’t bother with the Mister). Which, in the hands of Hogan’s Heroes co-star turned director Ivan Dixon plays out a lot less interestingly than it should.

While there’s nothing especially terrible about the film apart from Waite’s performance and wardrobe, it’s woefully short on energy for its first 56 minutes and even once Mr T gets round to permanently taking care of business, Dixon takes the scenic route – sometimes literally, as in a sequence where he clearly fell so in love with the architecture of the then-new Century City that Hooks, having just vowed instant righteous vengeance, spends a minute-and-a-half just walking through it before getting down to a couple of minutes more stalking and infiltration when on his way to the final showdown, which slows the momentum way down. There’s enough action in the last half hour to keep it from dragging too much but it’s no surprise that Marvin Gaye’s score – his only one – is better remembered than the film. Dixon went on to do some good work as a director in 70s TV shows like The Rockford Files that showed a better sense of pacing and energy, but this is one of those films that gives you just enough reason to keep on watching but not enough to ever feel like watching it again. File under one-and-done.

Kino Lorber’s Region A-locked Bluray offers a for the most part decent but not outstanding widescreen transfer (though there is one weird moment of video blur in an early pool hall shot) with audio commentary by Nathaniel Thompson and Howard S. Berger, original trailer minus titles and narration and trailers for Cotton Comes to Harlem, Across 110th Street and Report to the Commissioner and the five-minute exhibitors’ showreel for Truck Turner as extras.

"Gentleman, that last remark is not for publication. This is a D notice situation."

I'm not region-free, so the only imports I own are region A discs. Some of them I ordered from Amazon (US), so I didn't really import them, someone else did Some of them I ordered from Amazon UK, and I got Cross of Iron from Amazon Japan. It's pretty easy to get these types of discs when available, but these days I prefer to wait for the US release. Lord knows there are more than enough domestic releases to spend my money on.

Special Delivery (1976)
• Brand New HD Master from a 4K Scan of the Original 35mm Negative by Paramount Pictures Archives
• Audio Commentary by Film Historian Lee Gambin
• Original Theatrical Trailer

From Paul Wendkos, the director of The Mephisto Waltz, Cannon for Cordoba and Guns of the Magnificent Seven comes this stylish heist film starring badass Bo Svenson (Walking Tall Part II, Breaking Point) and the beautiful Cybill Shepherd (Taxi Driver, Once Upon a Crime). A gang of thieves plan a daring bank robbery, making their escape across the rooftops of Los Angeles buildings. The police are quickly called in and only one of the robbers, Murdock (Svenson), makes a clean getaway. Unfortunately, in order to do so, he is forced to dump the stolen cash into a mailbox, which he then finds is locked until midnight, forcing him to wait until the mailman makes his late-night pickup. As he waits, he discovers that his hiding place has been observed by several other people, all of whom want a share of the loot. The stellar cast includes Tom Atkins (Halloween III: Season of the Witch), Sorrel Booke (Bank Shot), Gerrit Graham (Beware! The Blob), Michael C. Gwynn (Harry in Your Pocket), Jeff Goldblum (The Fly), Vic Tayback (Thunderbolt and Lightfoot), Robert Ito (Dimension 5), Kim Richards (Tuff Turf), Deidre Hall (TV’s Days of Our Lives), Ed Peck (Bullitt) and John Quade (Every Which Way But Loose).

A cartel of seven crime bosses unionize and plan to take over the state of Hawaii. Government intelligence agent Drew Sevano (William Smith, Any Which Way You Can) is hired to “handle” the situation however he sees fit. Drew enlists seven old friends to help, creating Sevano’s Seven – the Playmate (Susan Kiger, H.O.T.S.), the Black-Belt (Ed Parker, Revenge of the Pink Panther), the Dragster (Christopher Joy, Big Time), the Cowboy (Guich Koock, North Dallas Forty), the Comic (Art Metrano, Police Academy 2), the Professor (Richard LePore, Stacey!) and the Indian (Barbara Leigh, Junior Bonner). Sevano’s Seven – death is their way of life. This cult classic was co-written, co-produced and directed by Andy Sidaris (Malibu Express, Hard Ticket to Hawaii) and co-starred Martin Kove (Steele Justice) and Terry Kiser (Weekend at Bernie’s).

A compelling tale of passion's dark secrets - critics applauded Feast of July as one of the best films of the year! A mysterious young beauty, Bella Ford (Embeth Davidtz, Army of Darkness), searches hopelessly for the lover who betrayed her. Weary and alone, she is offered shelter by the Wainwright family, who help her find new hope... and whose three handsome sons battle for her affections. But just as she is ready to begin her new life, her former lover unexpectedly reappears to haunt her with the secrets – of their past. From Merchant Ivory Productions, the award-winning creators of Howards End and The Remains of the Day – Feast of July is passionate and powerful entertainment. Directed by TV veteran Christopher Menaul (Prime Suspect) and co-starring Ben Chaplin (The Thin Red Line).

Television and screen legend Peter Falk (The In-Laws, TV’s Columbo) gives a truly unforgettable performance in this heartwarming, highly acclaimed comedy hit. Evicted from his home, gruff-but-lovable old Rocky (Falk) goes to live with his grandson Michael (D.B. Sweeney, No Man’s Land) in his cramped one-room apartment. The hilarious multi-generation gap creates the most outrageous pair of roommates since The Odd Couple. And when Michael brings home a new girlfriend (Julianne Moore, Far from Heaven) – things really heat up. Directed by the great Peter Yates (Bullitt, Robbery, Eleni, The Friends of Eddie Coyle) and co-starring award-winner Ellen Burstyn (The Exorcist, The Cemetery Club) – Roommates is an entertaining treat you're sure to love.